Retailers 'hit twice'

Those considering embarking on careers in graduate retail jobs could be interested to hear one market analyst is claiming the sector is being squeezed from both sides.

Capital Economics maintain that retailers are being hit by rising costs and weak consumer spending.

Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at the research consultancy, said that in response to the fall in house prices, rising unemployment and general financial gloom, consumers are beginning to tighten their belts.

"The bottom line is consumers simply have less money to spend and are less prepared to spend it then they have been in the last five or six years. Retailers are going to struggle one way or another," he added.

According to the Office for National Statistics' consumer prices index, annual inflation rose to 4.4 per cent in July, up from 3.8 per cent in June.

The sixty basis points jump in the annual rate is the highest since records began in 1997.